


Embrace

by ziefyrr (helpidkausername)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Accidents, Car Accidents, During The Game, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Swearing, cyberlife tower, enjoy, i wanted to write a dbh fic anyways, stratford tower roof scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 19:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15031340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helpidkausername/pseuds/ziefyrr
Summary: Cole’s head fell limply to the right, eyes closed and mouth slightly open. Hank fought the panic threatening to explode from in him. His hands shook involuntarily. A bloody handprint was imprinted onto Cole’s cheek once Hank removed his hand. Still shivering, unsure if it was from the cold or from the panic and grief, he took two fingers to Cole’s neck to feel for something, anything.Nothing.Another hand on Cole’s chest, right where his heart was.Nothing.





	Embrace

**Author's Note:**

> Christ, okay, the first Detroit: Become Human fic I write is sad. Well, I hope I didn't mess up the emotions and characterizations cause I've not written an emotional scene for a long time. Hopefully I conveyed the emotions correctly? Please don't kill me :)

Hank’s head was pounding, like someone took a sledgehammer to his skull. His vision swam and nausea built up in his stomach, gagging as bile rose up his throat. There was this annoying incessant ringing in his ears; what had happened? He was... with Cole, driving back home from a- an amusement park. Cole had just turned six, just a couple days ago...

Cole!

Hank tried to sit up and was suddenly acutely aware that his head was painfully squished onto the ceiling of his car, seat belt still locking him to the driver’s seat. He shut his eyes to quell the swimming in his stomach. His hands blindly fumbled to find his seatbelt lock, cursing when it was stuck. A frustrated groan and a couple hard pushes later, he felt his body release, crumpling down. He had to get out, where was the door? Hank maneuvered himself so that he wasn’t upside down anymore and his hand found the handle.

The piercing cold sliced through his numb hands as he crawled out from the small space. His breath clouded in front of him as he panted and curled his legs to get out of the overturned car. Once he was free, he hurriedly scrambled over to the passenger seat, tripping over himself. He peered inside. Cole was still in there, but his eyes were closed and Hank couldn’t tell if his son was breathing. With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he pulled the door open with every ounce of strength he had. Cole, Cole had to be alive. He can’t die, he can’t. That one thought occupied his mind as he unlocked the seat belt and pulled his son out. Hank took a couple steps and he was blasted from the back. He cradled Cole in his arms as the car burst into flames.

Cole’s eyes were still shut but there was a pulse, a weak one but a pulse nonetheless. Hank felt something sticky coming from his son’s forehead. The metallic smell hit his nose and he sucked in a breath. Blood. Hank brought his son up to lie on his thigh and he ignored the sharp pain that sparked in his bones. He stroked Cole’s head and his vision became blurry. Hank hadn’t cried since, well, since Cole was birthed into the world.

The father looked up from his injured son. His eyes landed onto the truck that started this chain of events. Its headlights were still flickering, the whiteness of it put spots into Hank’s vision. The container at the back had fallen sideways and so did the head of the truck. He spotted someone limping towards him, but before Hank could call out for help, he realized it wasn’t a someone. Its blue armband shone luminously in the dark night, the small triangle on its chest glowing as brightly. The android stumbled towards them, blue blood leaking from its arms and head. One of its eyes were blacked out, completely damaged in the accident. Hank flinched away from the robot.

“Your son needs emergency medical attention,” it said and the LED cycled to yellow. “I have contacted the nearest hospital about this accident. However, your son will not make it before the ambulance arrives. I need to perform emergency surgery.”

“What, and you’re qualified to do that?” Hank snapped, voice and body cold.

The android stilled. “No, I am only an assistant in the medical field. There is a human surgeon in the truck but-“

“Well, get the fucking human here then, you piece of shit!” Hank yelled, flicking his arm towards the truck.

“He is... currently incapacitated. While he is alive, the surgeon seems to be intoxicated with some kind of drug.”

Hank couldn’t believe it. The only chance Cole had to survive this horrible world was fucking high on red ice. His hand was still idly stroking his son’s head when he brushed over a particularly soft spot. Cole flinched, his eyes widening.

“Dad...” His voice was nasally. 

Hank jumped. “Son, son, I got you, okay? Daddy’s got you...” 

“Every- everything hurts.” Tears began to spring from Cole’s eyes. His son started to curl up into a ball when the android stopped him. 

“He shouldn’t move. He is suffering from major internal bleeding, multiple broken bones, and a collapsed lung. You are also injured, two fractured bones, minor internal bleeding, and emotional shock. Please allow me to perform surgery on the child.” 

The android was his last hope, Hank had to take the risk. Cole deserved that. “I swear to God, if you fu- mess him up, I will kill you.” 

“My primary function is to provide general medical attention,” it replied, gently setting Cole onto the floor. 

Hank couldn’t watch. In his defence, who could? Who would want to watch their child, the light of their life, be opened up and worked on? Dissected like some animal. Yet, Hank’s eyes couldn’t leave his son’s tiny bleeding body. The android’s hand dipped into Cole’s insides after injecting some anesthetic. Hank met Cole’s eyes, making sure the kid didn’t look down at his chest. 

“Dad, I’m scared.” He let out a sob. “I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna leave you.” 

“You won’t, son,” Hank tried to reassure. “You won’t.” 

The android worked tirelessly. Its hands moved expertly to close wounds and cauterise them. 

“I have managed to stop some of the internal bleeding, but he has lost too much blood. I need to perform a blood transfusion,” it updated. It turned to look at Hank. “Scanning blood type... no matching blood type found.” 

The best fucking time to have a different blood type. Cole’s mother had the same type as Cole, but Hank had an AB+ instead of a B+. He cursed loudly. 

“There should be some Type O blood in the truck. Please, put pressure on his wounds like this. I will not be long.” 

Then it took off, running to the truck even though every step it took damaged its leg even further. Hank could see its leg was going to pop off at any time when it exited the truck. 

“Dad... it’s not your fault,” Cole whispered, eyes falling shut. The boy let out a weak wheeze. 

The android fell to its knees just a few feet away from Cole. The soft thud made Hank swivel to look at the android, whose leg now looked broken. Still, it crawled towards them, determined to complete its task. He shook his head and turned back to Cole. His son’s breathing was getting shallower and shallower, so much so that Hank had trouble finding a pulse. Blood covered his shaky hands. 

“Cole? Cole!” Hank called out, removing a hand from the wound to cup his son’s chin.

Cole’s head fell limply to the right, eyes closed and mouth slightly open. Hank fought the panic threatening to explode from in him. His hands shook involuntarily. A bloody handprint was imprinted onto Cole’s cheek once Hank removed his hand. Still shivering, unsure if it was from the cold or from the panic and grief, he took two fingers to Cole’s neck to feel for something, _anything_. 

Nothing. 

Another hand on Cole’s chest, right where his heart was. 

Nothing. 

“No. Nonononono,” Hank stuttered. He brought his bloodstained hands away from the lifeless boy as if he’d been shocked. “Please, God, fucking no. No, please... Cole, wake up... Son...”

“Time of death: 10:27 PM. Cause of death: major trauma to vital organs.” 

The fucking android, Hank completely forgot about it in his grief. He couldn’t believe the android had the nerve to fucking announce his son’s death like it was nothing. But it was nothing to a machine, Cole was just like another statistic to it. This time, Hank couldn’t force down the boiling rage in him. He saw red and his vision narrowed down onto the android. Standing up on shaky legs, Hank marched towards the damned plastic bitch.

“What did I say?” Hank said, his voice impossibly levelled. “What did I say about fucking my son up? Huh?” 

“You said ‘I swear to God, if you fu- mess him up, I will kill you.’” It replayed Hank’s words evenly, not a trace of empathy to be found. It was an android, after all, Hank thought, it had no soul. It couldn’t feel. 

“Damn right I did.” 

That was how the ambulance found the three of them. Hank, covered in blue and red blood, colouring his skin a deep purple as the two mixed. The medical android, broken beyond repair and bleeding everywhere, but still alive. Cole was still on the icy floor, a puddle of water mixing with his blood under him, temporarily forgotten in Hank’s fit of rage. Paramedics had to pull Hank off the half-dead android to prevent any more damage. Hank coughed and struggled, too weak from his injuries. The paramedics had to strap him down and dose him to keep him pliant. They started patching him up.

The surgeon was found in the back of the truck, unconscious but unscathed. In the enclosed area, the stench of red ice lingered. His hands and mouth covered with it. The surgeon was charged with drug use and fired, imprisoned for a long time.

 

* * *

 

They had found the android fugitive hiding on the roof of the Stratford Tower. Armed forces pushed forward, encircling the deviant. Shots flew through the air and Hank grabbed Connor’s elbow tightly, shooting wildly to fend off the attacker. Stumbling, the duo fell behind a metal barricade. Shots pinged off the metal.

“You have to stop them! If they destroy it, we won’t learn anything!” Connor yelled above the shooting. 

“We can’t save it, it’s too late! We’ll just get ourselves killed!” Hank yelled back. He pointedly did not look at Connor’s open wound.

Hank hoped the android would, for once in his miserable life, listen to him. Unfortunately, the android seemed to have a mind of its own. Before Hank could stop Connor, the android rolled out of cover and ran towards the deviant. 

“Jesus fuck!” He cursed loudly. 

He shuffled over to where Connor had been sitting and peeked out to see the android swerving between the bullets expertly. It jumped over another metal structure and disappeared behind it. 

There was one final shot. It rang out loudly through the air. Hank winced and yelled once more and ran out of cover. Connor, thankfully, was still standing and alive. Though, the android was pressed up against the metal structure it jumped over, hands behind to support it. If Hank saw correctly, he swore Connor was shivering in shock, or fear. 

“Connor! Connor, you all right? Connor!” Hank jogged up to his partner. 

“Okay...” it replied softly. Hank noticed the shakiness in its voice. 

“Are you hurt?” 

“I’m okay...” There it was again, the uncertainty of its own wellbeing.

Hank could only see flashes of the truck and his son during that winter three years ago. 

“Jesus,” Hank breathed. “You scared the shit outta me...” 

And Connor did. Hank wasn’t exaggerating. When the android had leapt out to ‘complete its mission’, Hank nearly had a panic attack. Connor was putting his own life in danger and Hank didn’t think he could survive another round of people he cherished dying on him. It was why he couldn’t keep his anger down again. 

“For fuck’s sake, I told you not to move! Why do you never do what I say?” It was an android, for the love of God! Connor should’ve listened! 

When Hank turned to look at his partner, the look Connor had on his face brought his anger down to a low simmer. Connor still stood where he was, frozen and... terrified. 

“I was connected to its memory... when it fired...” Connor started, voice trembling. Hank wondered how an android could sound so fucking human. 

“I felt it die... like I was dying...” 

It was like a child learning about death for the first time. The utter despair on Connor’s face was heart-wrenching. Hank searched the android’s eyes and unexpectedly found traces of emotion in it. Intense fear. Hank realized it was the first time the android ever explicitly expressed that it was afraid of dying. Connor’s eyes darted around minutely as if it was processing too much information at once. It reminded Hank of when Connor would rapidly blink when receiving information. 

“I was scared.”

_Dad... I’m scared. I don’t wanna die..._

There he was again, crouched on the snowy road, clutching his wounded son in his arms. Hank could feel the phantom bites from the cold and his heart hurting from the thought of losing his lifeline. He remembered the moment Cole’s life left his body. Hank wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, or play Russian Roulette again, just to see Cole one more time.

But as he watched Connor finish processing, the emotional part of it vanished. It quickly changed the subject to what information it gathered, face morphing into one of indifference. Hank snapped back to reality. That was the difference between humans and androids. Androids couldn’t feel, not like how he or his son could. They had no soul, and Hank shouldn’t get attached. So he pushed the urge to pull the android into a deep embrace and comfort it down into a void in his mind. He listened to what Connor had found out.

 

* * *

 

“It’s not your fault, lieutenant.” 

The gun shook in Hank’s hands. Two Connors stood in front of him and he had to choose the correct Connor to spare. 

That sentence echoed in Hank’s mind. There was emotion in those words, like that Connor knew he had been suffering from the loss of his son. It wasn’t his fault. 

 _Dad... it’s not your fault._  

But it was. He didn’t have the correct blood type. If he had, Cole would’ve survived. If he had, that stupid android wouldn’t have needed to grab blood from the truck and leave Cole to die in Hank’s arms. If he hadn’t brought Cole out to the amusement park that night, his son would still be alive. 

While it wasn’t obvious, Connor looked almost sympathetic. Like it- he was carefully treading in a minefield approaching this sensitive topic. Like he genuinely cared. 

“Cole needed emergency surgery but no human was available to do it... so an android had to take care of him. Cole didn’t make it.” They locked eyes. “That’s why you hate androids. You think one of us is responsible for your son’s death.” 

If the android had been faster. If the android hadn’t been injured. If Hank had the correct blood type. If the android’s leg didn’t give out at the last minute. If the human surgeon hadn’t been fucking smoking red ice and caused a child to fucking die. No, the android was only doing its job, and it tried its best to save his son. What did that fucking surgeon do? Absolutely nothing. Even when the android knew it would be pummeled into the ground if Cole died, it still tried. Unlike that lowlife of a surgeon. His addiction killed his son. 

Hank readjusted the grip on his gun. “Cole died because a human surgeon was too high on red ice to operate. He was the one who took my son away from me. Him and this world, where the only way people can find comfort is with a fistful of powder.”

There was a silence before fake Connor started protesting, but Hank already knew. From the emotion in real Connor’s voice to blaming his own species for Hank’s hatred, it was obvious. The bullet left the gun and embedded itself into fake Connor’s head. It fell onto the ground with a thud. Connor looked at the dead replica and let out a relieved sigh.

Hank holstered his gun and did something he didn’t really do that often. He walked towards Connor and pulled him into a hug, just like how he wanted to on that roof. Connor stood still for a second, unsure of what to do. Hank didn’t have to wait long for Connor to wrap his arms around him and hug back. Yeah, there was a civil war going on, but he was quite sure converting the androids into deviants wouldn’t take that long. There was time for a hug, a long-awaited one.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, okay, it's over. I hope you enjoyed and felt some feelings. I might post more in the future but for now, thanks for reading and please leave feedback ^.^
> 
> Insta: @ziefyrr  
> Twitter: @ziefyrr


End file.
